ON THE ROAD......................to GRAND RAPIDS

[Joe(TX)]

Hi to everyone. Presently we are about 60 miles south of Chicago..................200 miles to go!! May detour in Chicago and see what attractions that we may do and visit. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! What beaches are in the Chicago area? We have never been this far north, so we are very excited! Never been to Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois or Chicago before. Fixing to travel thru Indiana, and part of Michigan and Grand Rapids, never been there before either!...........................HAPPY VACATION TO ALL...................Joe

[Oz_IL]

Sorry I read your message so late. I would have suggested bypassing the Chicago stop and visit Warren Dunes instead :0) I am assuming you are taking I-94 in MI. To get to the dunes, it is exit 16 and a few miles on Red Arrow Highway?

Metal Detecting is allowed

Warren Dunes MD areas (Adobe Reader required)

[Joe(TX)]

Oz, read your posts too late! That Monday morning we decided to go and sightsee in Chicago! That was a Big Mistake! We got caught up in bumper to bumper traffic because of much new construction in that area! Went downdown and tried to find the Sears Tower to go up and photograph the surrounding areas! Also a big mistake! At Every Red and Even Green lights we had jaywalkers in front, behind and on the sides of us! We finally decided to get out of there and head back on our original destination to Grand Rapids! It probably took us at least 2 hours to get out of the Chicago area because of all this conjestion traffic! Got back on I-80 and although ran into more traffic in Indianna, we finally got into Michigan and into Holland at about 4:00 or 5:00PM The Michigan folks were very friendly. I got lost in Holland and stopped a complete stranger for direction to the town's EconoLodge instread of brushing me off he pulls out his City Map and gives me detailed directions on how to get to our motel! I was very impressed and thanked him very much! We eventually saw my son and his new wife, and her family! We all had a good time, went to Michigan Adventures, ate a lot of Cuban and Hispanic dishes, and had a lot of fun at the various flea markets! Bought a lot of presents and souvenirs to bring home! Did not have the time to detect as much as I wanted! Did get to go to Tunnel Park and view Lake Michigan from top of the 7 story Sand Dunes! It was very impressive! The Lake looked like the ocean to me it was Large, one could not see across it. It also had decent size waves! The only difference was that the water is colder and it is fresh instead of salt water! We could only stay a few days since I had to report back to work Sunday night! So we only visited my son for about 4 days and then had to start our trip back on Friday afternoon. We made it back into Missouri before we stopped for the night! And the next morning from the top of Missouri, we made it all the way back home before midnight! We would have done better but we got caught into a very serious downpour and had to wait the storm out for a while! Overall it was a very enjoyable trip! I did get to detect my new daughter-in-law mother's house but that is a different story! Also it changed some of my views on the newer detectors! But that is another story also! Everyone needs to go on Vacation and experience something new...............it will open one's mind to all the possibilities that one can do! We are not always limited to our normal restraints!!.............................HH....... ..to all Joe

[pris]

It sure sounds like you enjoyed your vacation. I know you were really looking forward to it. I think it's great that you drove instead of flew (although I am too lazy to drive, myself). I think it's very cool what you said about trying new things. I believe that's VERY important. We all just need a little reminder, now and again.

Thanks for the post and welcome back!!!

[Joe(TX)]

Pris, we almost flew! Originally the plane tickets were about $350.00 apiece and then a week before we left it went up to about $550.00 apiece. There was NO WAY that I was going to give the airlines that much money. Also I was trying to be as conservative with my money as possible. Driving that far I am convinced that we experienced life-things that we would have missed if we had flown! It is good to travel to far off places and experience NEW things, but it is alway nice to come back home and and experience all the NORMAL things!......................................HH... ............................Joe

[anne]

Glad to hear you had a good time joe, have you any pics you could post up and make me envious of where you have been.